


A Twist in the Tale (That's Old as Time)

by Skeeter_110



Category: Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Kid Peter Parker, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Love, Platonic Relationships, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29537670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeeter_110/pseuds/Skeeter_110
Summary: Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. As punishment for his actions, the young prince is transformed into a monstrous beast by a mysterious enchantress. Only condition is if he can learn to love someone and earn their love in return, the curse will be lifted. The prince - now turned Beast - felt doomed for eternity; until he met a little boy with a heart of gold.AKA: a Beauty and the Beast Irondad AU
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts & James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. 

Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. 

And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. 

Ashamed of his monstrous form, the Beast concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another - and earn their love in return - by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. 

If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. 

As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?

* * *

Peter skipped on out of his home and straight into the village, smiling and greeting everyone he passed as the village town quickly became more and more alive. 

"Good morning, Peter." The village baker greets as he brings his tray of rolls over to his bakery. 

"Morning, Monsieur." Peter addresses, walking over with the baker. 

"Where are you off to?" The baker asks.

"The bookshop. I just finished the most wonderful story about a beanstalk and an ogre and-" Peter excitedly begins to explain, only to be cut off.

"That's nice." The baker responds absentmindedly, clearly not hearing a word Peter was saying, before yelling. "Marie, the baguettes! Hurry up!" 

Peter just shrugged before putting his book back in the basket he was carrying and continuing on his way; hopping on the back of someone's carriage to get to the bookshop faster.

Peter quickly ran into the shop, the bell above the door ringing and announcing his presence to the bookseller. 

"Ah, Peter." The seller acknowledges.

"Good morning. I've come to return the book I've borrowed." Peter says, handing the seller the book he was carrying around.

"Finished already?" The seller questions, sounding a bit impressed.

"I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?" Peter asks as he climbs the ladder and begins scanning all of the books.

"Not since yesterday." The seller laughs.

"That's all right. I'll borrow... this one." Peter says, going and grabbing a familiar book off of the shelf and handing it to the seller. 

"That one? But you've read it twice." The seller amusedly says.

"Well, it's my favorite. Far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise." Peter excitedly says, swinging off of the ladder.

"If you like it all that much, it's yours." The seller offers, making Peter gasp.

"But, sir..." Peter goes to protest.

"I insist." The seller presses creating a huge smile on Peter's face.

"Well, thank you. Thank you very much." Peter expresses his gratitude, instantly opening up the book and reading as he began to walk home; completely oblivious to the man following him. That was until the man jumped right in front of him. 

"Hello, Peter." The man greets.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Osborn." Peter responds, not even bothering to take his eyes off the book. Norman, not liking not having the attention on him at the moment, quickly swiped the book out of the boy's hands.

"Monsieur Osborn, may I have my book, please?" Peter asks, making Norman scoff before flipping through the book.

"How can you read this? There are no pictures." Norman scoffs.

"Well, some people use their imaginations." Peter retorts, Norman rolling his eyes at the prospect and throwing the book over his shoulder.

"Peter, it's about time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more important things. Like working for me." Norman says.

Ever since Norman found out that the only reason the Parkers were able to earn money was by Peter making and selling different inventions, he's been all but begging Peter to work for him. And clearly, he refuses to take no as an answer. 

"The whole town's talking about it. It's not right for a little boy to be reading fantasies all the time." Norman disapproves as Peter reached down and grabbed the book up off of the ground. 

"Monsieur Osborn, you are positively primeval." Peter says, looking at Norman in confusion when the man looked proud of the dig.

"Why, thank you, Peter. Now, what do you say you and me take a walk over to my workshop and take a look at some of my work." Norman says, trying to pull Peter in the direction of his workshop. 

"Maybe some other time." Peter says, pulling his arm out of Norman's grip when it seemed like the man wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon. "Please, Monsieur Osborn, I can't. I have to get home to help my Aunt. Goodbye." Peter bids farewell. 

"That crazy old loon. She needs all the help she can get." Victor Von Doom, Norman's right-hand-man, says making both him and Norman laugh.

"Don't talk about my Aunt that way." Peter yells at them, making Norman sober up.

"Yeah! Don't talk about his Aunt that way." Norman whirls on Victor.

"My Aunt is not crazy. She's just old." Peter defends, his argument falling short when something in his kitchen exploded, making Peter run towards his house, completely ignoring the laughter that was in the background. 

Peter quickly ran inside the house, coughing due to all of the smoke floating around in the air.

"Aunt May?" Peter calls out, still coughing and waving away all of the smoke.

"How on earth did that happen?" Aunt May grumbles, trying to free her leg from the wood and wires that it was trapped in. 

"Are you alright, Aunt May?" Peter asks.

"I-I don't know what happened. I think I accidentally turned this contraption on." May says, pointing at Peter's recent invention that was sitting there in the middle of the house.

"I'm sorry. I'm about ready to give up on this hunk of junk." Peter huff, clearly disappointed with how slowly the new invention was coming together.

"You always say that." May tuts fondly.

"I mean it this time! I'll never get this boneheaded contraption to work!" Peter angrily says, making May cross her arms.

"Peter, watch your language." May chides, erasing Peter's look of anger and turning it into him looking fully reprimanded. 

"Sorry, Aunt May." Peter mumbles out an apology.

"And you will get this to work." May encourages, taking Peter's face into her hands. "And it will win first prize at the fair tomorrow. And we won't have a thing to worry about this winter." May says, gently brushing Peter's cheeks with her thumbs.

"You really believe that?" Peter asks.

"I always have." May confirms, making Peter grin real big. 

"Well, what are we waiting for? I'll have this thing fixed in no time." Peter exclaims, climb underneath the contraption. "Can you hand me that... the dog-legged clincher there." Peter asks May, the woman being quick to do so.

"So, did you have a good time out in town today?" May asks once Peter had his tool. 

"I got a new book." Peter tells his aunt before tightening a few things. "Aunt May, do you think I'm odd?" Peter decides to ask.

"My nephew? Odd? Where would you get an idea like that?" May scoffs.

"Oh, I don't know. It's just that I'm not sure I fit in here. There's no one I really can talk to." Peter sighs.

"What about Norman? He seems like a nice fella, and he likes inventing things like you. He could be like your mentor." May says.

"Yeah, he seems nice, but he's actually rude and conceited and... oh, Aunt May, I would never want to work for someone who treats people so terribly." Peter tells his Aunt.

"Well, don't you worry, 'cause this invention you're working on is gonna be the start of a new life for us." May reassures as Peter rolls out from underneath the machine. 

"I think that's done it. Now, let's give it a try." Peter says, pulling the lever and causing the machine to whistle and whir.

Both May and Peter stepped back a bit, covering their faces just in case the machine blew up. Thankfully, instead of blowing up, the machine began to do its intended purpose, swinging an ax down and chopping the log that was in front of it. 

"It works!" May exclaims.

"It does?" Peter asks in shock, watching as the machine continued to chop wood. "It does!"

"You did it. You really did it." May proudly says, pulling Peter into a tight hug. "Hitch up Philippe, boy. I'm off to the fair!" May says, Peter quickly running out of the house and hitching their horse, Phillippe, to the carriage.

May quickly pack up as many supplies she needed for the travel before getting her coat and throwing it on while Peter took the invention and placed it in the ack of the carriage. 

"I love you, Peter." May says as she comes outside, planting a kiss on Peter's forehead.

"I love you too, Aunt May." Peter repeats the sentiment. 

"Take care while I'm gone." May says as she hops up onto Phillippe. 

"Always." Peter responds, watching as his Aunt began to ride off down the road. 


	2. The Castle in the Woods

"We should be there by now." May mumbles as she looks around the woods and down at her map, not really recognizing anything around her.

"Maybe we missed a turn. I guess I should have taken... Wait a minute." May says, stopping Phillippe in front of what appeared to be a sign and a cross-roads. Unfortunately, the words on the sign were all worn out and May couldn't decipher what a single one said. Phillippe just let out a huff before pulling them towards one of the roads.

"No. Let's go this way." May says, pulling Phillippe to the other road, which was quickly becoming covered in fog. Phillippe continued to try to go down the road on the left, making May angrily pull him back towards the other road.

"Come on, Phillippe, it's a shortcut. We'll be there in no time." May says effectively pulling Phillippe down the road. 

The further they went down the road, the more the fog grew until they could no longer see the dirt in front of them. They kept trudging forward, only stopping when the howls of wolves were heard.

"This can't be right. Where have you taken us, Phillippe?" May asks, gasp when the howls got louder. "We better turn around." May says, yanking on Phillippe's reins and getting him to turn them around. As soon as they turned around, though, Phillippe started to get spooked by all of the howls.

"Whoa. Whoa, boy. Whoa, now, whoa, Phillippe." May tries to calm, hoping to stop Phillippe from backing up in fear. Of course, she couldn't stop him before they hit a tree, making a bunch of bats fly out and swarm around them.

That was the breaking point and what caused Phillippe to begin running, hoping to get far far away from all of the frightening things. May was just taken for the ride, barely managing to calm and stop Phillippe from dropping them off of the side of the cliff.

"Back up, back up. that's good, that's a good boy. Back up." May says, finally getting them turned around and away from the cliff. "Steady. Steady, now, steady." May attempts to gain control, only to lose the little sliver she had of it when the wolves began to howl again.

"No, Phillippe!" May cries when Phillipe throws her off his back and begins to take off.

May sat there on the ground for a bit, watching as Phillippe disappeared into the fog. May had no idea what to do now. She was left in dark unknown woods, with her lantern broke and no longer lit, and with wolves slowly surrounding her. 

May quickly booked it, running and brushing off all the branches hitting her face as she tried to escape the pack of wolves that were now chasing her. 

Because it was dark and she couldn't see, May ended up tripping over a tree root, causing her to tumble down a hill. Thankfully, when she fell down the hill, she landed in front of a gigantic fence. 

Looking over her shoulder, May saw the wolves glaring down at her from the top of the hill, making May get over her pain and run to the gate.

"Help! Is-Is someone there? Help!" May shouts, wiggling the gate and managing to push it open. As soon as the gate was opened, May ran inside, slamming it shut just in time to shut it in the wolves' faces. 

May quickly scrambled to her feet, sighing and huffing as she attempted to calm down. she only managed to walk a few feet before stopping and gasping at the gigantic castle that stood before her. 

Almost as soon as she came across the castle, it started to downpour, making May run to the castle doors and begin banging on them; accidentally pushing the door open as she did so.

May peered around the door, noticing that there was no one around and therefore safe for her to begin walking in. 

"Hello?" May calls out before hesitantly walking further into the castle. "Hello!" 

"Poor Gal must have lost her way in the woods." A voice says, making May look around as she continued. 

"Keep quiet. Maybe she'll go away." Another voice whispers.

"Is someone there?" May asks, looking around and still seeing no one around.

"Not a word, Rhodey. Not one word." The second voice says.

"I don't mean to intrude, but I've lost my horse, and I need a place to stay for the night." May explains, not wanting to make the people these voices belong to upset.

"Oh, Happy, have a heart." The first voice says, only to get shushed. There was only a split second of silence before the second voice was crying out in pain.

"Of course, Mademoiselle, you are welcome here." The first voice says over the second one's pain, confusing May even more.

"Who said that?" May calls out, reaching over to one of the tables and picking up the candlestick she saw there to try and see better in the dark castle. 

"Over here." The voice says, making May turn.

"Where." She cries out, twirling all around in a desperate attempt to just find someone. 

"Over here." The voice says at the same time that the candlestick hit May in the head. "Hello." The candlestick greets once May brings it close to her face, making her gasp and drop the candlestick. Once she realized that the candlestick was groaning and trying to sit up, she leaned over it and examined it more.

"Incredible!" May marvels, watching as the clock hopped down from the table and made its way over to the candlestick.

"Well, now you've done it, Rhodey. Splendid. Just peachy." The clock scolds, only to scream when May picked it up off the ground.

"How is this accomplished?" May questions, ignoring the clock's pleas to put it down as she began to tip and turn the clock in order to examine it. 

"Ma'am, close that at once." The clock demands as May opens up the front panel and messes with the pendulum. "Do you mind?" The clock scolds as the panel slammed closed on her finger.

"I-I beg your pardon. It's-It's just that I've never seen a clock that-that-" May tries to explain, quickly being cut off by sneeze after sneeze. 

"Oh, you are soaked to the bone, Mademoiselle. Come. Warm yourself by the fire." the candlestick offers, leading May to where she needed to go.

"Thank you." May expresses her gratitude.

"No, no, no! You know what the master will do if he finds her here." The clock worries, grabbing onto the back of May's coat in an attempt to stop her from going further into the room "I demand. You. Stop. Right. There!" The clock says as it tumbles down the stairs leading to the room. 

"Oh, no, no. Not the master's chair." The clock moans when it sees that the candlestick was settling May in the prince's chair that was in front of the fire. Before the clock could fully stop them though, it was brushed past by a barking footstool.

"I'm not seeing this. I'm not seeing this." The clock moans, figuring that if it didn't see anything then the master couldn't get angry with it.

"Well, hello there, boy." May greets the footstool, petting it like it was an actual dog. At the same time that the footstool wormed its way underneath May's feet, a coatrack wrapped a blanket around May's shoulders, making sure she was cozy and warm. "What service." She marvels once again.

"Alright. This has gone far enough. I'm in charge here-" The clock tries to put a stop to everything once again, only to get cut off once again by a service cart running it over. 

"How would you like a nice spot of tea, ma'am? It'll warm you up in no time." The teapot that was sitting at the top of the service cart offers. May gladly accepted, ignoring the clock in the background who was trying to dispute it.

May was just giggling with the little teacup when the doors to the room slammed open, causing the fire to go completely out, and all of the household objects quiver in fear. 

May wrapped the blanket tighter around her, shaking in fear also when she saw the big, beast-like shadow looming over her.

There's a stranger here." May hears a gruff voice growl, not helping her fear even a bit.

"Master, allow me to explains. The lady was lost in the woods. She was cold and wet, so-" The candlestick tried to explain, only making the situation worse and making the beast roar to stop the candlestick from talking. 

"Master, I'd like to take this moment to say I was against this from the start. It was all his fault. I tried to stop them. Would they listen to me? No, no-" The clock says, trying to put the full blame on the candlestick, the beast also not having his explanation and roaring once again to stop it from continuing. 

May was looking around, trying to see what beast could make a roar as terrifying as that, gasping when she turned her head and the beast was staring right back at her.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The Beast questions, walking forward as May continued to walk back away from him.

"I-I-I was lost in the woods and-and-" May stammers.

"You are not welcomed here!" The Beast shouts.

"I-I'm-I'm sorry." May stammers out an apology, still not being able to take her eyes off of the Beast as he continues to push her back.

"What are you staring at?" The Beast asks, making May shake her head.

"N-Nothing." May replies, the Beast clearly not believing her.

"So, you've come to stare at the Beast, have you?" The Beast growls, May taking this as her chance to run and book it out of the castle, only for the Beast to cut her off and run right back in front of her.

"Please, I meant no harm! I just needed a place to stay." May pleads, and for the second time that night, she couldn't help but think about how Peter was going to become an orphan once again.

"I'll give you a place to stay!" The Beast threatens, picking up May by her shoulders.

"No, no, please! No! No!"

* * *

Peter was laying in the field behind their cottage after completing all his chores when he heard the whinnying of Phillippe. Peter instantly sat up, confused as to why his Aunt was back so soon, only to see that his Aunt wasn't even on the back of Philippe.

"Philippe! What are you doing here? Where's- Where's Aunt May?" Peter asks, grabbing Philippe's reins and calming the horse down. "Where is she, Philippe? What happened?" Peter questions, knowing something was beyond wrong.

"We have to find her. You have to take me to her." Peter says as he rushes to get the carriage off of Philippe's back, dread filing the small boy when he saw that his invention was still sitting in the carriage. 

Peter didn't allow himself to dwell on it for too long, choosing to quickly hop up on Philippe's back and snap his reins, making the horse book it back down the road he came from. 

The small pit of dread that was in Peter's chest only grew more and more as he got deeper into the woods that May was left in. The fog was still thick around them and Peter couldn't ignore the faint howls he heard as they continued. 

Philippe soon stopped in front of the large gate, Peter staring at everything around them in fear.

"What is this place?" Peter questions, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. Apparently, Philippe also didn't like where they were because he started whinnying and jerking around

"Philippe, please, steady." Peter tries to calm, hopping off of Philippe's back and steadying him that way. When Peter looked over his shoulder, he saw his Aunt's hat sitting on the other side of the gate, making him gasp. 

"Aunt May." Peter whispers as he goes inside the gate and picks up his Aunt's hat. Peter glanced up at the big castle that stood before him, taking a deep breath in before steeling himself and walking up to the castle doors. 

"Hello? Is anyone here? Hello?" Peter calls out as he begins to enter the castle, walking further down the hall when he didn't see or get an answer from anyone.

"Aunt May? Aunt May, are you here?" Peter calls out, walking up some of the stairs that he saw to begin searching for his Aunt. 

He began walking all throughout the hall on the second level, passing the room that the clock and candlestick were in. 

As soon as the candlestick and clock saw him walk past, they hopped off of the table they were on and ran to peer around the doorway.

"It's a boy!" The candlestick points out.

"I know it's a boy." The clock says in annoyance. 

"Don't you see? He's the one. The one we have been waiting for. He has come to break the spell." The candlestick excitedly says.

"Wait, the enchantress says Master must learn to love another." The clock points out making the candlestick be the annoyed one now.

"She never said it had to be romantic love. Look at him, he's a young boy looking for his Aunt, he looks like he needs another to love him." The candlestick says, quickly chasing after Peter, who was already turning the corner down another hall.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" The clock tries to stop, chasing right after the candlestick.

"Aunt May?" Peter was still calling out once the household items caught up to them, both of them opening the door behind the small boy, the creaking door getting his attention. Peter slowly made his way to the door, peering through it to see how it opened.

"Hello? Is someone here?" Peter asks, seeing the light from the candlestick go up the stairs. "Wait! I'm looking for my Aunt. I-" Peter tries to stop the person, running up the stairs, only to see no one.

"That's funny. I'm sure there was someone." Peter mumbles, looking over all of the prison cells. "Is anyone here?" 

"Peter?" A faint and familiar voice calls out."

"Aunt May!" Peter cries, quickly grabbing a torch and running towards the cell that May was in. May was reaching her arm through the tiny bars at the bottom of the cell door, Peter getting the hint and grabbing her hand.

"H-How did you find me?" 

"Oh, your hands are like ice." Peter says, holding May's hand up to his cheek to try and warm it up while May lets out a few chest-rattling coughs. "We have to get you out of there." Peter determinedly says. 

"Peter, I want you to leave this place." May tells the boy in fear, making him angry. Who would do this to a sick old woman?

"Who's done this to you?" Peter voices said question.

"No time to explain. You must go. Now!" May continues to push.

"I won't leave you." Peter stubbornly says, his stubbornness coming to bite him back in the butt when a large hand grabbed him and pulled him around. Because Peter was yanked around the torch he was holding fall to the ground, causing the whole room to be engulfed in darkness.

"What are you doing here?" A large voice booms.

"Run, Peter!" May begs, but all Peter could do was walk backward into the wall while simultaneously trying to figure out who was speaking.

"Who's there? Who are you?" Peter asks in fear.

"The master of this castle." The voice replies.

"Please, I've come for my Aunt. Please let her out. Can't you see she's sick?" Peter tries to beg, tears quickly forming in his eyes.

"Then she shouldn't have trespassed here!" 

"But she could die. Please, I'll do anything." Peter continues to beg, trying his hardest to not cry at the idea of losing his Aunt; his last living relative. 

"There's nothing you can do. She's my prisoner." The voice says, causing a sob to escape out of Peter's throat.

"There must be some way I can... Wait!" Peter calls out when he realized the silhouette of the person was beginning to leave. "Take me instead." Peter offers.

"You? You would take her place?" The voice asks, sounding like they were genuinely considering it.

"Peter, no! You don't know what you're doing!" May cries, trying to stop her nephew from making one of the worst decisions of his life.

"If I did, would you let him go?" Peter asks, wanting to make sure he wasn't going to make a deal, only to have his Aunt get stuck here anyway.

"Yes. But you must promise to stay here forever." The voice says, stepping a bit closer to Peter, but stopping as soon as he got too close to the small stream light that was shining down through the skylight.

"Come into the light." Peter challenges, his eyes slowly growing wide when he saw a gigantic Beast emerge. Peter just gasped in fear before turning towards his Aunt, wishing he could bury his face in her neck like he used to do whenever he got scared. 

"No, Peter! I won't let you do this!" May sternly says, Peter taking a deep breath in before taking one last long look at his Aunt knowing he'll never see her again. Seeing how sick she truly was, was enough for Peter to get up and walk into the light with the Beast. 

"You have my word." Peter says, closing his eyes so he wouldn't be afraid of the creature standing in front of him. 

"Done." The Beast growls, brushing past Peter to unlock the cell door. Peter just covered his face and fell to the floor, trying not to sob out loud right then and there.

"No, Peter, listen to me." May says, running over and grabbing Peter's hands when she was let out, lifting him up to face her. "I'm old. I've lived my life." May begins, trying to convince Peter to trade places with her. Although, she didn't get too far into her argument before the Beast grabbed her by the back of the coat and began dragging her out of the room.

"Wait!" Peter cries out, not quite ready yet to never see his caregiver ever again.

"Peter!"

"Wait!" Peter cries, watching as the Beast continued to drag his Aunt away. All Peter could do was run to the window in the tower, watching as the Beast threw his Aunt into a carriage, that quickly left the castle grounds.

That was the moment Peter allowed himself to cry, fat ugly tears streaming down his face as he fell to the floor once again and sobbed.

All he knew was his Aunt. His parents died from the plague when he was a baby, so he couldn't even remember them, and his Uncle had died in the war. His Aunt was the one that was there by his side through thick and thin.

Even when they could barely afford food for the winter, or new clothes for the summer, his Aunt always made sure he was well looked after. 

And now he'll never see her again. He'll never get to thank her for everything she sacrificed for him. 

Peter slowly looked up when a shadow loomed over him, his tears turning angry for a second when he saw the Beast.

"You didn't even let me say goodbye." Peter spits out before putting his face back into his hands. "I'll never see her again. I didn't get to say goodbye." Peter cries, the Beast looking a bit guilty before turning away. 

"I'll show you to your room." The Beast says, making Peter sniffle and look up in surprise. 

"My room? But I thought-" Peter begins to say, already testing the Beast short-temper.

"You wanna- You wanna stay in the tower?" The Beast questions, barely keeping his anger suppressed. 

"No." Peter answers in a tiny voice, almost feeling scolded in a way.

"Then follow me." The Beast commands, Peter scrambling to his feet and quickly following behind the Beast. 

Peter couldn't stop the tears as they walked down one of the long hallways. He also couldn't stop his curiosity from getting the better of him, making him look all around as they continued down the hallway. It wasn't until he started seeing all of the terrifying statues that he stopped looking around and ran to catch up with the Beast. 

Once Peter caught up, the Beast looking behind him, giving the small boy a sad look when he saw that he was crying once again.

"Say something to him." The candlestick practically scolds the Beast. 

"I... hope you like it here." The Beast awkwardly tells Peter, looking at the candlestick to see if that was good; apparently, it was good, but not good enough because the Beast was being shooed to say more. "The castle is your home now, so you can go anywhere you like, except the west wing."

"What's in the west-" Peter begins to ask, his curiosity once again getting the better of him. 

"It's forbidden!" The Beast yells, making Peter step further back in fear until they began walking towards his room again. Soon after, they were walking in front of a pair of double doors, the Beast opening the doors up for Peter.

"Now, if you need anything, my servants will attend you." The Beast says as Peter slowly walks into the room.

"Dinner. Invite him to dinner." The candlestick advises.

"You will join me for dinner. That's not a request!" The Beast aggressively invites, slamming the door behind him. 

All Peter could do was stare at the closed door in fear in shock before running over to the bed and throwing himself onto it.

And, what felt like for the hundredth time since he got there, Peter began to sob. 


End file.
